Google says it's updating Canadian parks listed as state parks in its search and maps

The waterfalls of Short Hills Provincial Park in Ontario. The marine beauty of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. The hoodoos and rock carvings of Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park in southern Alberta.

These are just some of the dozens of Canadian vistas that, until now, have been categorized by Google and other online services as "state park."

But the company says this will change after hearing from hundreds of Canadian users over the weekend.

"We're actively working to update labels for parks in Canada to avoid confusion," a spokesperson told CBC News in an email.

Though the state park classification pre-dates the current political climate, many users of Google Maps took notice of the small print amid ongoing rhetoric from U.S. president Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants to force Canada to become the 51st state. Many are also making note of the cartographic changes Trump has already launched to listings in other parts of the world, such as changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, a move Google and other services have complied with for U.S.-based users.

In recent days several posts highlighting the issue were posted in popular Canadian forums on Reddit and on Google's support forum, a post asking for it to be fixed is listed as trending. 

"I was shocked and actually quite insulted," said Kiki Grabowski, a Campbell River, B.C., resident who noticed the categorization and filed a complaint after seeing a post about it on Facebook.

"I find it really concerning."

B.C.'s environment minister, Tamara Davidson, also said her team had reached out to Google to request that "provincial park" be added as a unique label.

"We understand the concerns this has raised in the context of recent events — and let's be clear, we will never be the 51st state," she said in an email.

The email from Google confirmed the categorization is not new.

"We have not made any recent changes to the way we label parks in Canada," the statement says. "The vast majority of these parks have had their existing labels for several years."

'Cartographic bias'

Reuben Rose-Redwood, a geography professor at the University of Victoria, said this appears to be a case of "cartographic bias," not a deliberate misrepresentation of Canadian sovereignty.

"Google is using the term 'state park' as a catch-all category to refer to parks at either the state or provincial level in contrast to national parks," he said in an email. "While this may indicate a cartographic bias toward U.S. terminology, it most certainly pre-dates the current bluster about Canada becoming the 51st State."

He said it appears Google is simply using state park as a generic term to categorize the locations, similar to the way the service lists barber shop or sushi restaurant.

"I'd be cautious not to read too much conspiratorial intent into this particular cartographic categorization," he said.

Other locations worldwide are also listed as state parks including Ischigualasto Provincial Park in Argentina and Russia's Smolenskoye Poozerye National Park.

Meanwhile, Canadian national parks such as Jasper and Banff are listed as exactly that — national parks — while other provincial parks are listed, simply, as "park."

And at least one Canadian park seems to be the exception that proves the rule: Rochon Sands Provincial Park in Alberta, a lakeside campground between Calgary and Edmonton, is categorized as a provincial park.

Suggested edits

Google users are able to suggest edits to both search listings and maps which are then reviewed by the service.

Provincial park is not currently a category available to suggest for the edit, but some parks have seen their categorization change. Over the course of the weekend one park being monitored by CBC News — Crooked River Provincial Park in B.C. — had its listing switched several times between state park and park.

And in online forums, Canadian users are submitting bulk requests to have areas listed as state park to park, with some showing dozens of pending requests in their queue. 

One user, though, points out the categorization may not be incorrect if the term state is simply referring to "a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government," which, they write, could apply to provinces and even countries. 

Other mapping services

Provincial park is a category for Google's major mapping competitor: Apple Maps, which comes pre-loaded on iPhones and is available as an online service. A search shows several of the parks listed as state parks by Google are provincial parks on Apple Maps, though others are listed as park, beach or campground. The service also allows users to suggest provincial park as a category using its "report an issue" feature.

Bing, powered by Microsoft, does not list provincial park as a suggested category and also lists several Canadian parks including Writing-On-Stone, Juan de Fuca and Short Hills as state parks, as well. It does the same for provincial parks in Argentina. 

The travel site TripAdvisor also categorizes some Canadian parks, including Writing On Stone and B.C.'s Alice Lake as state parks.

CBC News has reached out to Microsoft and TripAdvisor for comment.

What's in a name?

Grabowski said the fact the categorizations are long-standing did not give her reassurance and she hoped change would come soon.

"Those parks belong to Canada, they are not state parks," she said. "With everything going on it is quite concerning." 

Rose-Redwood, the geography professor, said the expansionist language coming from the White House has made people more attuned to the way major online services list geographic spaces. Though he cautioned against being too concerned about what looks to be long-standing listings online, he also pointed to the Gulf of America controversy and a move from congressional Republicans to rename Greenland "Red, White and Blueland" as examples of the sort of thing that could signal a threat to the sovereignty of other countries.

"For instance, if the U.S. Congress were to pass a law renaming Canada as the U.S. State of Canada or some other such absurdity, would Google follow suit and update Google Maps accordingly for U.S. map users like they've already done for the so-called Gulf of America?" he asked. 

"These types of renaming efforts signal to the world that the current U.S. administration is seeking to flex its muscles to seem strong, similar to the way a pufferfish inflates its body to appear large," he wrote.

"In fact the cartographic arrogance behind these moves makes Trump and his cartographic supplicants ... seem petty and small."